Transforming compassion into heroic action

The Heroic Imagination Project (HIP) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that teaches people how to overcome the natural human tendency to watch and wait in moments of crisis and to create meaningful and lasting change in their lives.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, The Heroic Imagination Project translates the extensive research findings of Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University, into meaningful insights that individuals can use in their everyday lives to transform negative situations and create positive change. Dr. Zimbardo’s groundbreaking work has studied the psychological foundations of negative forms social influence forces (such as conformity, obedience, and the bystander effect) and is now refocused on understanding the nature of everyday heroism and they psychology of personal and social growth.

HIP is a research-based organization which provides knowledge, tools, strategies, and exercises to individuals and groups to help them to overcome the social and psychological forces which can keep them from taking mindful action at crucial moments in their lives. HIP also supports empirical academic research on heroism and the psychology of personal, social, and systemic growth to ensure the advancement of practical knowledge in these areas.

Our Mission

To encourage and empower individuals to take heroic action during critical moments, and to successfully initiate positive  change in their own lives as well as that of their community and society as a whole.

Our Programs

We have developed programs for students of all ages, corporate management and employees, as well as for the general public, which incorporate the findings of recent and classic research in social psychology and related fields. Our programs teach ordinary people how to develop the skills needed to resist such behaviors as bullying, negative conformity, and mindless obedience and to act with integrity during challenging situations. Our programs use videos, stories from research, hands on exercises, and simulations of challenging social situations to deliver the lessons in an engaging and effective manner. We evaluate our programs to verify that they are having a measurable and lasting effect on the awareness and behavior of our participants.